Intentions to Marry, 1898 January-June

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840413, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, June 27 2025

1898 is bound in two volumes, January-June and July-December.

Page 425

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 31 March 1898 Registrar William Alfred Smith Wilcox

Date of Notice

Names and Surnames of Parties

BDM Match

Condition

Calling or Profession

Age

Dwelling Place

Length of Residence

Marriage Place

Folio

Consent

Date of Certificate

Officiating Minister

10 March 1898

Henry John Kilby
Christina Quartie

Henry John Kilby
Christina Martin
💍 1898/919

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

27
19

Preservation Inlet
Invercargill

2 years
19 years

House of Mr. John Lyons, Te Oneroa

98/1086

William Martin, father

10 March 1898

Rev. J. Guy

No	25
Date of Notice	10 March 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry John Kilby	Christina Quartie
BDM Match (91%)	Henry John Kilby	Christina Martin
	💍 1898/919
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	27	19
Dwelling Place	Preservation Inlet	Invercargill
Length of Residence	2 years	19 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr. John Lyons, Te Oneroa
Folio	98/1086
Consent	William Martin, father
Date of Certificate	10 March 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Guy

11 March 1898

Cornelius Henry Lawrence
Mary Laid

Cornelius Henry Laurence
Mary Lind
💍 1898/2700

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

32
24

Makarewa
Makarewa

7 years
24 years

House of Mr. Wm. Laid

98/1079

11 March 1898

Rev. Gibson Smith

No	26
Date of Notice	11 March 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cornelius Henry Lawrence	Mary Laid
BDM Match (87%)	Cornelius Henry Laurence	Mary Lind
	💍 1898/2700
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	32	24
Dwelling Place	Makarewa	Makarewa
Length of Residence	7 years	24 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr. Wm. Laid
Folio	98/1079
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. Gibson Smith

11 March 1898

John Baxter
Ada Swain

John Baxter
Ada Swain
💍 1898/922

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

24
21

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 days
3 days

Manse of Presbyterian Church

98/1089

11 March 1898

Rev. Andrew H. Stobo

No	27
Date of Notice	11 March 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Baxter	Ada Swain
	💍 1898/922
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Manse of Presbyterian Church
Folio	98/1089
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. Andrew H. Stobo

14 March 1898

James Edward Foley
Margaret Watson

James Edward Foley
Margaret Watson
💍 1898/925

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter
Drapers Clerk

25
28

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 years
28 years

House of Mr. Abram Watson, East Road

98/1094

14 March 1898

Rev. Geo. Lindsay

No	28
Date of Notice	14 March 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Edward Foley	Margaret Watson
	💍 1898/925
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter	Drapers Clerk
Age	25	28
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 years	28 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr. Abram Watson, East Road
Folio	98/1094
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 March 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. Lindsay

15 March 1898

Niels Jacob Martin Reay
Eliza Annie Deschler

Niels Jacob Marten Nein
Eliza Annie Derchlen
💍 1898/917

Bachelor
Widow

Watchmaker

45
39

Invercargill
Invercargill

21 years
25 years

House of Mrs. Eliza Annie Deschler, Bye Street

98/1083

15 March 1898

Rev. Archdeacon Stocker

No	29
Date of Notice	15 March 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Niels Jacob Martin Reay	Eliza Annie Deschler
BDM Match (86%)	Niels Jacob Marten Nein	Eliza Annie Derchlen
	💍 1898/917
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Watchmaker
Age	45	39
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	21 years	25 years
Marriage Place	House of Mrs. Eliza Annie Deschler, Bye Street
Folio	98/1083
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 March 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. Archdeacon Stocker

15 March 1898

George Frederick Double
Wilhelmina Sutherland

George Fredrick Double
Wilhelmina Sutherland
💍 1898/927

Bachelor
Spinster

Hairdresser

28
24

Invercargill
Invercargill

4 years
24 years

House of Mr. David Sutherland, Spey Street

98/1095

15 March 1898

Rev. Geo. Lindsay

No	30
Date of Notice	15 March 1898
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Frederick Double	Wilhelmina Sutherland
BDM Match (98%)	George Fredrick Double	Wilhelmina Sutherland
	💍 1898/927
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hairdresser
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	4 years	24 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr. David Sutherland, Spey Street
Folio	98/1095
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 March 1898
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. Lindsay

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

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What is an Intention to Marry?

The 1854 Marriage Act required Pakeha settlers (and later Maori) to register their intention to marry from 1855. The resulting Notices of intention to marry were sent by the district registrars to the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages and bound into large volumes, each containing a year of notices. These registers were eventually deposited with Archives New Zealand.

What information does an ItM record?

A typical Intention to Marry notice records:

the bride and groom's full names
occupation of the groom (and sometimes the bride)
their ages
district where the marriage would take place
how long they had resided in the district
Where the marriage would take place (eg, a specific church)
Who would officiate the marriage (eg, a minister)
The date of the notice and also a date when the certificate was issued. Marriages had to take place within 3 months, and usually occurred within a week or so of the certificate date.
If one of the parties was under 21, a parent who consented to their marriage was usually specified

These details can provide clues for genealogical and historical research. Knowing the date and district makes it easier to look for wedding notices in Papers Past, and the amount of time that the parties had resided in a district can offer clues to whether a person was born in NZ, or when they immigrated.

However, finding individual records in the Intentions to Marry registers was typically a slow and manual process, usually requiring an in-person visit to Archives NZ's Wellington office (during limited opening hours) and using a handwritten card catalogue index to look up individual names.

Eight years of the registers had been digitised by Archives NZ prior to 2024, but even these digital versions required the use of a manual index and usually examining several pages to locate specific records.

What is the Intentions to Marry Project?

This project aims to transcribe the New Zealand Intentions to Marry registers (from 1855 to 1925) with the assistance of new technology (AI), making the records freely available and easily searchable.

The ITM records have also been cross-referenced with the registered marriages at DIA Births, Deaths and Marriages, where possible (a small fraction of the recorded intentions to marry did not become a registered marriage).

Currently we have almost all records between 1855 and 1903. More registers are being added almost every week.

The project is led by Luke Howison, a web developer who made the free genealogical research search tool NZ Ancestor Search Helper and Archway-style Collections Search. There are also some wonderful volunteers assisting with digitising the registers.

Can I volunteer to help?

Yes, you can! You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

I am also looking for Wellington-based volunteers to help me digitise more years of the registers. I can provide lighting equipment and a 'clicker' (to trigger your phone's camera).

How is the transcription done?

There are several steps to digitising and transcribing the records:

Digitising the registers (taking clean, straight, high-quality photos)
Processing the digitised pages by straightening, cropping and sharpening the images
Transcribing each page with a combination of AI tools
Matching each ITM with a registered marriage when possible
Human verification of the transcribed information

The main LLM (AI) used are the Google Gemini Pro and Flash models, which have excellent 'Vision' capabilities, and a generous free tier.

Archives NZ has released the register years they have digitised (1865-69, 1872, 1874 and 1880) under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.

The Intention to Marry registers (up to 1925) are more than 100 years old, so their Crown Copyright has expired, putting them in the public domain. This also applies to any 'mechanical reproductions' (eg, pictures or photocopies) of their content without substantial alteration.

The transcribed records on this website are released under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal license, which allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, even for commercial purposes, while giving credit to the creator (NZ Intentions to Marry Project).